“So what?”
I’m glad you asked! The reason this date matters, is because on April 6th of the year 32 A.D., a certain Man rode into that same city of Jerusalem on a donkey.
“Again, so what?”
I'm glad you asked! When Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day, He was fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah that said:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech 9:9)
“And that matters because….?”
I’m glad you asked! The time between March 14th, 445 B.C. and the day Jesus fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy (April 6th, 32 A.D.) is precisely 173,880 days. And there you have it.
“There I have what?”
I’m glad you asked! There you have the realization of another important prophesy that is found in the book of Daniel. Daniel was in deep prayer when the angel Gabriel arrives to give him this statement:
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’” (Daniel 7:25)
“And that means?”
I’m glad you asked! The ‘sevens’ are groups of years, and the 62 + 7 = 69 groups of 7 years each. The Jewish calendar had 360 days in a year, not our 365.
“And once again, so what?”
I’m glad you asked! If you do the math:
69 x 7 = 483 years
483 years x 360 days/year = a total of precisely 173,880 days.
So we know the book of Daniel was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, and we know that Gabriel told Daniel it would be “69 sevens” from when the Medo-Persian King gave the word, to when the King of Kings rides in to stake His claim.
We know the precise date that the word went out from King Artaxerxes “to restore and rebuild Jerusalem”, and we know the precise date “the Anointed One, the ruler, comes”. Those two dates add up to the same number of days – EXACTLY – as the number of days Gabriel told Daniel it would be.
Daniel recorded Gabriel’s message down long before any of this happened. Ask yourself:
Who could possibly know the EXACT number of days that would pass between these two events that were 483 years apart?
I’m glad you asked!